From South Asia to Southeast Asia to China and Australia, suddenly everybody has a thing for submarines, loads of them. It’s Christmas for sub-builders. Today it’s India announcing plans to get next-generation submarines built in France. India is getting ready to create another flutter in the arms bazaar — 10
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The Disaffected Lib: Peter Kent Sings Harper’s Praises in Doha
Peter Kent never lets reality get in the way of his message, especially when he’s singing the praises of his boss Harper. Kent, showing the nerve of a canal donkey, showed up at the UN climate summit in Doha to tout his government’s record on wrestling with Canada’s carbon emissions.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: George Monbiot – Time to Ditch Our Malignant Politics
Guardian enviro-scribe George Monbiot writes that the road to saving the world has to be paved with the shattered remnants of today’s corporatism. We must dismember corporatism and the plutocracy that drives it. Humankind’s greatest crisis coincides with the rise of an ideology that makes it impossible to address. By
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Steve, Are You Listening? Tom? Justin?
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has said it about as succinctly as possible: “The climate change phenomenon has been caused by the industrialisation of the developed world. It’s only fair and reasonable that the developed world should bear most of the responsibility.” That’s right, the developed world, our team.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Christmas Gift for Dad? Glenfiddich, Maybe?
Scotch whiskey distiller, William Grant & Sons, has suddenly become a burr under Donald Trump’s saddle. For many years the distiller has hosted a “Top Scot” competition. It’s open to the public. People just vote for whomever they chose to be named Top Scot for that year. This year’s lucky
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Arms Race Update – Indian Navy to South China Sea
India has served notice that its navy is ready to sail into the South China Sea to protect the country’s oil interests there. Indian Navy Chief Admiral D.K Joshi said that, while India was not a territorial claimant in the South China Sea, it was prepared to act, if necessary,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Chomsky on Israel – A Worthwhile Read
An old man in Gaza held a placard that read: “You take my water, burn my olive trees, destroy my house, take my job, steal my land, imprison my father, kill my mother, bombard my country, starve us all, humiliate us all, b…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Why Spend a Fortune for a "Troubled" Anything?
In news reports it’s common to see the adjective “troubled” used in conjunction with F-35. It may, by common usage, become that warplane’s new name – the “troubled F-35.”The F-35 may fall short on speed, agility, payload, range and just about eve…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: 40-Years of Peace Tossed in the Garbage
Apparently forty years of peace has been too much of a good thing for Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel has enjoyed peace with its Arab neighbours since 1973.Don’t blame yourself if you didn’t realize that the Middle East has enjoyed four decades o…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: New URLs
The Disaffected Lib can now be accessed at two new sites – www.thedisaffectedlib.com or www.disaffectedlib.com. Don’t ask me why, my kids did this. Well, they’re not really kids any more – except to me. Why did they do this twic…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canada ‘Worst Developed Nation" on Climate Change
We’re Number Last, We’re Number Last.Canada, our very home and native land, has won last place as the worst developed nation when it comes to climate change. Dead last, that’s us.Yet when placed in an even bigger basket of 61-countries, Canada wa…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "All Options Are On the Table" Making Israel Pay
Decades of experience shows that Western rebukes of Israel are like so much water on a duck’s back. Israel simply ignores them, mutters the usual garbage about self-defence, and continues to do as it damn well pleases. The West …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Maybe Europe Needs a Rooseveltian Response
For all of its other problems, there’s one the European countries have to deal with and soon, youth unemployment. They even have a term for them, “Neets” (not in education, employment or training).The official figure has fourteen million European…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Try to Wrap Your Mind Around This
Imagine 2.4-million pounds of something, anything. Now imagine 2.4-million pounds of that something each and every second, 60 times a minute, 36-hundred times every hour; 604,800 times every week. That’s a lot of something, isn’t it?Sure it…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Germany Shines a Light on the Harp of Darkness
When it came right down to it, Germany balked at voting “no” on Palestinian recognition in the UN General Assembly and, instead, merely abstained. Netanyahu was not amused.What transpired between Angie Merkel and Benny Netanyahu may shed so…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Can’;t We Turn This Into a Drinking Game of Some Sort?
Holy Crap, we’ve only got 18-shopping days left until the End of Earth. I haven’t even drawn up a shopping list. How did this slip my mind? And why did I shell out so much last week to have my driveway powerwashed?The Russ…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Whether You Excavate It or Pump It or Frack It Out of the Ground, It’s All Fossil Fuel
We get all sorts of stuff out of the ground and it’s all lethal, every BTU of it. Some of it, for example natural gas, is less lethal. Some of it, heavy crude and coal, is especially lethal. But, still, burn enough of any …
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: World Outrage at Israel’s Destruction of Palestinian Homeland. Harper, Naturally, Mute.
Two Rotten Peas in a PodEven the United States is condemning Israeli perfidy in retaliating against the Palestinians by stealing more of their land, enough to sever the West Bank and end Palestinian hopes for their homeland, and now seizing $120-millio…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: It’s Too Late to Whine Now
One day after leading the charge to block the UN General Assembly from granting upgraded recognition to the Palestinian Authority, the United States is supposedly condemning Israel for retaliating by authorizing a further 3,000 settler homes to be buil…
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